The Alpha Course?

[Eddi]

Question: Would you recommend the Alpha Course?

(Here is the wikipedia page that's about it)
(Here is its official website)

I'd recommend it

For those of you who don't know what it is, basically it is a course about Christianity aimed at people who are open and interested about Christianity but who don't consider themselves Christian

As a young man I got a chance to do it when I was at University but I turned it down as I was an atheist and truth be told, a bit of a snob:

I now wish I'd have done it - I'd have had a better time at uni drinking tea and eating biscuits with the Christians than I would drinking beer and taking drugs with the people I hung out with there...

I've recommended it to people who are interested in Christianity but who don't know much about its inner-workings

There are some people who have done it multiple times, once the pandemic is over I'm going to do it a second time

What we do is, we all meet in a church, watch a video and then break up into smaller groups to discuss the video, using a little text book to structure the discussion

If I were to improve it I would include a section about Satan and spiritual warfare, and also a section about "end times", but apart from that I think it is comprehensive and informative

Doing the Alpha Course lead to me being baptised!

 

[exchemist]

Personal dislike of evangelical Protestantism.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Personal dislike of evangelical Protestantism.

and even more so about
"Satan and spiritual warfare, and also a section about "end times","

 

[Altfish]

Personal dislike of evangelical Protestantism.

This

 

[Eddi]

@exchemist @Terrywoodenpic @Altfish

How on Earth can you meaningfully not recommend something if you have had no experience of it?

Sure, you can say it's not for you and sure, you can say you disapprove of it...

But I don't think you can say that you can't recommend it if you have never done it yourself

 

[Altfish]

@exchemist @Terrywoodenpic @Altfish

How on Earth can you meaningfully not recommend something if you have had no experience of it?

Sure, you can say it's not for you and sure, you can say you disapprove of it...

But I don't think you can say that you can't recommend it if you have never done it yourself

It is not new.
I have visited the website, spoken to people who have been on it, read commentaries on it.

I have never committed suicide ... but I would not recommend it because I haven't done it myself.

 

[Eddi]

It is not new.
I have visited the website, spoken to people who have been on it, read commentaries on it.

I have never committed suicide ... but I would not recommend it because I haven't done it myself.

Well, that's fair enough then

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

I have always seen it as expanding on the work of the missions of Billy Graham (I went to his first Wembley one in the UK)
From my point of view the Alpha course seems to be now, largely associated with a particular "Evangelical" Style of Anglican faith, that I find most unattractive and somewhat unbelievable.

However I am happy to give a prominent position to the Holy Spirit. but rather as an internal communication link to God. rather than as an external force. I see the Holy spit closely associated with our Souls, as both" Are of God" and inseparable.
Which might be something of a Heretical view to many people.

I would suggest the Holy spirit operates through or souls not our minds. hence our difficulty in Comprehending him. We look in the wrong place.

 

[syo]

For those of you who don't know what it is, basically it is a course about Christianity aimed at people who are open and interested about Christianity but who don't consider themselves Christian

I am open and interested in religions. I would definitely join, in order to gain experience. I don't shut open doors. (I hope they would accept a pagan omnist, maybe they wouldn't accept me.)

 

[Left Coast]

@exchemist @Terrywoodenpic @Altfish

How on Earth can you meaningfully not recommend something if you have had no experience of it?

Sure, you can say it's not for you and sure, you can say you disapprove of it...

But I don't think you can say that you can't recommend it if you have never done it yourself

Is that how you feel about jumping off a cliff as well? Or drinking poison?

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

As I do not believe even in the existence of deities, no "course" in any religion is ever going to have any meaning for me. No sort of Christianity can make the slightest sense without first accepting the existence of God.

 

[exchemist]

@exchemist @Terrywoodenpic @Altfish

How on Earth can you meaningfully not recommend something if you have had no experience of it?

Sure, you can say it's not for you and sure, you can say you disapprove of it...

But I don't think you can say that you can't recommend it if you have never done it yourself

So in your view we can't say we don't recommend incest? Or burglary?

Have you thought this through?

 

[ChristineM]

How on Earth can you meaningfully not recommend something if you have had no experience of it?

Why the poll then?

 

[VoidCat]

Have never done it can't recommend

 

[PureX]

Sounds like religious cult propaganda, to me. I think college campuses should keep it out.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Sounds like religious cult propaganda, to me. I think college campuses should keep it out.

It is not really a cult it is an evangelical Christian course that leaves out all the bits that particular denominations hold to themselves or find contentious.
It is like writing a course that includes absolutely every thing, and giving every denominational leader an eraser to remove all the bits they find objectionable. All the distinctive bits of the Orthodox, Baptists and Catholics are simply not mentioned. as they are for other denominations.
It is a potted version of Christianity.

 

[PureX]

It is not really a cult it is an evangelical Christian course that leaves out all the bits that particular denominations hold to themselves or find contentious.
It is like writing a course that includes absolutely every thing, and giving every denominational leader an eraser to remove all the bits they find objectionable. All the distinctive bits of the Orthodox, Baptists and Catholics are simply not mentioned. as they are for other denominations.
It is a potted version of Christianity.

That's why I called it a cult. It's not what it purports to be, and is instead a very one-dimensional, exclusionary form of religious indoctrination. Which is why I think college campuses should refuse to support it in any way.

 

[exchemist]

Have never done it can't recommend

Just in passing, re your avatar, I take it you have never suffered from migraine.

 

[Eddi]

Is that how you feel about jumping off a cliff as well? Or drinking poison?

That's a false analogy, LC

Each of those courses of action produce a definite and inevitable consequence

The potential outcomes of attending the Alpha Course are much more complex and requires a degree of familiarity with it in order to give a valid opinion

 

[Eddi]

So in your view we can't say we don't recommend incest? Or burglary?

Have you thought this through?

Each of those are clearly immoral and cause harm to others

I don't think that it is reasonable to seriously rank the Alpha Course alongside incest and burglary

And I maintain that in order to be able to give an informed opinion on it requires some knowledge, either direct or second-hand, not just a simple dislike of "evangelical protestantism" (as you called it)